Chapter 6
The Second Table was Vivian’s invention.
Not an official council.
That made it more dangerous.
No rules.
No minutes.
No formal authority.
Just people gathered around meals until agreement felt like tradition.
Rebecca explained it best.
“Your mother never asked us to betray you.”
I looked at her.
“What did she ask?”
“To protect Nolan.”
“From me.”
“She never said from you.”
“Then who?”
Rebecca hesitated.
“From becoming unnecessary.”
There.
The word behind everything.
Unnecessary.
Nolan heard it too.
His face changed.
Vivian had not told them I was evil.
She told them my marriage, my baby, and my changing priorities would leave Nolan without purpose.
That was smarter.
People will do terrible things to protect someone they pity.
My uncle Victor spoke next.
“She said Elise was pushing you toward a household dynasty.”
I almost laughed.
“A household dynasty.”
“You stopped discussing cousins for future command.”
“They’re adults. They can earn command.”
“She said the baby would inherit everything.”
“My child has not inherited the ability to hold its own head up yet.”
Silence.
Good.
Then I looked at the plates from my phone.
Each seat corresponded to someone at Second Table.
Elise alone.
Always.
Not merely punished.
Displayed.
Vivian used every dinner to show the faction that Elise could be controlled.
That mattered.
If my wife obeyed, Vivian could tell them the pregnancy would not threaten Nolan.
If Elise resisted, Vivian could call her arrogant and dangerous.
Perfect trap.
“What were you supposed to witness tonight?”
Rebecca started crying.
“That she refused again.”
“And?”
“That Vivian had tried everything.”
My hands became cold.
“Everything meaning?”
No one answered.
Elise did from the doorway.
I turned.
She had come downstairs.
Her choice.
She looked at the room.
“They wanted me to say the baby would never come before Nolan.”
Nolan closed his eyes.
Elise continued.
“I told them I could not promise what kind of man Dante would choose twenty years from now.”
Exactly.
Then she looked at Vivian.
“So they called me disloyal.”
My mother said nothing.
May you like
I finally understood the obscenity.
My pregnant wife was being punished because she refused to negotiate an unborn child’s future on behalf of grown men frightened of becoming less important.
